USA > California > Nevada County > History of Nevada County, California; with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and manufactories > Part 43
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when informed for what purpose the visit was intended. A lunch had been prepared for the crowd by the company at their cabin, and while here Rich took several of them ont and showed them the half million of improvements the agents claimed the company had made, consisting of as much work as the two men could do in two or three days. By this means he exposed the weakness of the other side and converted a large portion of the men into friends or neutrals. Among the crowd, however, were some who had come purely from a desire for excitement and mischief, and these rolled stones down the side of the preci- pice upon the men at work on the dam. They failed to accom- plish anything by this measure and withdrew, leaving Rich and his partners in complete possession.
The company then sued for $100,000 damages, and the casc was in the courts for years. Finally, in the summer of 1867, the company was awarded one dollar damages, which they thought also confirmed in them the title to the property. One enthusiastic German, named Burgantz, beeame so elated at their success, that he went the graud round of the saloons in Nevada City, rejoicing, the burden of his refrain being, "Poys, ve've , long as they could find " pay dirt." Frequently a "greenhorn,"
gaint der snit, und ve ont der Sout Yuba broberdy. Come und trink Bnrgantz' visky." The next day the attorney for the company asked to be put in possession of the property, but the Court said that on the suit for damages but the one dollar allowed by the jury could be given them, and that the Court could not put them in possession. This was a severe blow to them, for no proceedings had been instituted by them to secure possession, and their right to do so hail expired by limitation. The Supreme Court, upon appeal being taken, sustained the position taken by the lower court; however, the attempt to accomplish something was not abandoned until 1872.
CHAPTER L. MINING.
The Early Miners-The Gold Lake Expedition-Greenwood's Golden Valley- Bullion Product of the Cou.ity-Phicer Mining and Methods-Ancient River Channels-Hydraulic Mining-Its Inception and Progress-Tun- nels and their Cost-Tail Sluicing-Under Currents-Cement Mining- Quartz Mining-Quartz Mining Laws of 1852.
THE history of mining is one of evolution and progress, beginning with the pan an 1 wooden bowl of 1848, and ending with the great hydraulic system and the immense quartz mines and mills of the present time. The circumstances that attended the discovery of gold by James W. Marshall at Coloma and the discovery made by Jonas Spect on the Yuba river have been fully related, as has also the manner in which the rich placers of Nevarla county were prospected and developed.
of washing out the inetal. All this they had to learn. The theory of gold deposits was to them nukuown, and a favorite fallacy of the carly days was tliat somewhere, high up in the mountains, was the "source of gold," and many efforts were made to find it. For this reason great excitements were the nicans of drawing thousands into the hills, without means of subsistence, only to suffer privation and disappointment.
The miner was a class of the genus homo only to be found where men delve for the precious metals, active, restless, ener- getic, fearless, practical to the last degree. Everything in his eye had a valne in proportion to its nse. Governel by strange whims, he named his claim or nicknamed his companions after any peculiarity of person, incident or fanciel resemblance. Many were the ludicrous names applied to mining camps, the reason for giving which is a riddle to us now, though no doubt a good one in the cycs of the christener. With the naming of each there is no doubt something of interest connected, but it is impossible to learn it, as the miners who worked there knew little about it, nor dil they care what name a place bore, so or in the classic language now prevailing in the Colora lo mines. a "tender-foot," would come along, and ask the miners the best place for him to work. Not caring to be bothered with him, or desiring to keep him away from where they had foun 1 gold, they were apt to direct him to some spot where they thought there was nothing. If the man was fortunate and " made a strike," the place was at onee christened " Greenhorn Bar," or " Fool's Luck," or something of that kind. If a man became " dead broke," and finally made one last effort an l " struck it rich," he would eall the place " Last Chance," or " Murphy's Luck." When towns of some considerable size grew up these old names were changed to more desirable ones. though sometimes it was found impossible to make the altera- tion, so firmly fixed were the old appellations. A man's full name was often unknown; indeed, he was fortunate if some nickname was not bestowed npon him.
The habit of carrying arms was universal for a number of years, though it has been for a long time discontinued by the majority of residents of mining localities. Most of the emui- grants, in addition to the never-failing revolver. brought wit'ı them rifles and shot-guns, which were found inconvenient an l useless in the mines, and were placed in the stores to be dis- posed of or thrown away. The condition of society was sa-l that every man had to rely upon himself' for protection, al the revolver and knife being conveniently earriel, were always ready to protect life and property, or to aveny real or farcio! insult.
During the last of May, 1850. a man named Stoddard care to this region and traveled among the camps, endeavoring to
The great majority of miners that came to California were gnorant of the nature of gold deposits and the proper method , enlist a sufficient number of miners to form a party and ess
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HISTORY OF NEVADA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
advantage of the wonderful diseoveries he had made. His story was a remarkable one, and well calculated to raise the curiosity and cupidity of the people. A short time before, while he and four others were prospecting about fifty or sixty miles northeast of Downieville, they lost their way and wandered about for some time. One day they discovered a lake and went down to the bank to drink. While stooping over they saw something shining under the moss at the bottom, which upon investigation proved to be lumps of gold. While taking some of these out they were attacked by Indians, and two of the party were killed. Stoddard and two of his companions sueeeeded in making their eseape in different direc- tions, and were not afterwards reunited. Stoddard went down to San Francisco, where there were friends of the two others that he thought had eseaped, to see if any tidings had been received from them. Not being successful, he came to Nevada City. He deseribed the lake as containing from three to five acres, and to prove his story exhibited several lumps of gold, varying in valne from eight to twenty-four dollars. He ealled the place Gold Lake. Great excitement was eaused by this story, and a seleet party of twenty-five was immediately formed, to go in search of this wonderful lake, under the guid- anee of Stoddard. They had an opportunity to receive five hundred members, who were willing to pay anything for a chanee to go with them, but the party was considered of snf- tieient size without. They started in May, and were followed by five hundred or a thousand men, who closely watched them to see where they were going.
Upon hearing Stoddard's story and learning of the subse- qnent organization of luis party, the people became wild and almost erazed with excitement. In many places around the old claims, miners had found pockets where gold to the amount of two or three hundred dollars had been taken out; henee the story that at the lake, in twenty-four hours, they could gather as much of the precious metal as could be carried away, did not seem improbable. All the floating population of the inines imbibed the fever and rushed after the seekers, earrying few provisions with them and but little wherewith they could procure any. The course of travel was on the divide between the Feather and Yuba rivers. Some organized into small parties, but as a general thing they went along helter-skelter and pell-mell, striving to see who would accomplish the journey first. The prices of horses, mules and oxen went up at a rapid rate. Some started with wagons, but owing to the roughness of the regiou and the lack of roads, this method of traveling had to be abandoued. Pereciving an opportunity for trade and speculation, a number of merehants loaded wagons with goods an I provisions, and started out on the route of travel. When the Stoddard party arrived in the vicinity of the place where the leader thought the lake to be, the seareh was eommeneed.
They hunted in vain for tive or six weeks, their followers keeping on their traek all the while, thinking that the party by roaming about were seeking to deceive thein about the location of the objeet of their search. The attempt was finally abandoned, and the great crowd of disappointed inen eom- meneed prospecting in the ereeks and ravines. The Gold Lake expedition, though it failed to diseover the wonderful lake, was of great benefit otherwise, for by the many deluded seekers the riel mines of that region were prospeeted aud developed.
Stoddard endeavored to organize another party to search for the lake of gold, but without sueeess, as he was deemed to be a lunatie, and the lake an image east upon the mirror of his dis- eased imagination. There are some who do not think him to have been erazy, but that he did diseover valuable ground, the evidence of which was ample in the lumps of gold he exhibited. However ehimerical his vision may have been, the gold nuggets were real, and proved that lic had made a discovery, which his exeitement and imagination made him view in a highly exag- gerated light.
The following sketeh of the famous search for Greenwood's Valley, is taken from the Nerada Daily Gazette, January 26, 1866. In corroberation of the truth of the narrative, I. J. Rolfe, of Nevada City, writes as follows :- " I am persoually acquainted with the facts related therein, having read the letter written by Mr. Ewer, of Valparaiso, to his father, Peter F. Ewer, who was Supereargo of the vessel, and not Captain, as stated. I also had arranged with others to visit the locality deseribed in the letter, in 1852, but one of our party was acei- dently killed a day or two before we had intended to start, and the enterprise was abandoned. In 1865, fourteen years after, I went to the place deseribed in the letter, which was so plain and so thoroughly impressed upon my mind, that I had no difficulty in following the ronte and determining the locality where the Negro elaimed to have made his fortune. It is need- less to say I did not diseover anything, but I saw sufficient to satisfy my mind that Greenwood's story might not be alto- gether fiction. A heavy eurrent has some day swept through that seetion, leaving the bedroek waterworn and exposed, and if compelled to seek for gold on the surface of the ground, I would seleet this spot above all others, as presenting the most favorable indications." With the above letter of Mr. Rolfe we present the story withont further comment.
" Most 'forty-niners' remember old Greenwood, the moun- taineer. He had been a hunter and trapper from boyhood, one of those inen who always keep to the westward of civilization, and unwittingly on their part, prepare the wilderness in some degree for its eoming. He had hunted across the continent in days when from the Missouri river to the Bay of San Fran- eiseo was terra incognita, and in his old age found himself with his Indian wife and troop of half-breeds, located only for a time
as he supposed, iu a valley now ealled Greenwood Valley, in El Dorado county. Soon after he heard that gold had been discovered not far away, and then heard rumors of men eoming to this coast by hundreds and thousands by land and by water. It was all a muddle to him. He had a small idea of the use of gold, except that it was available to buy powder and lead. He was only annoyed at the crowd. But the inexorable Pacific hemmed him in, and there were no new hunting grounds to the westward.
One day in 1849 he went to Sutter's Fort (Sacramento) where he had heard a town was being built, to see for himself the new condition of things. He walked the streets in a maze. At last, bewildered, in the rush and throug of men, he stepped into a house half restaurant, half gambling saloon, and joined a party of grey-shirted gentlemen who were looking at a parcel of nuggets, chunks of yellow metal, displayed upon a table. He gathered from the conversation that it was the veritable goll of which he had heard so much. The dull yellow roeks looked familiar to him. With a generous confidence few of his hearers would have imitated, he told his story. He said that one suin- mer, some years previous, he was with his family for several weeks in a little valley, away up in the Sierras. While he hunted, his children played about the camp. Their range of toys was limited, aud when they gathered a lot of those smooth, yellow boulders, of which there was an abundance in the valley, they were so pleased with them that when they left the valley they took with them a few of the smallest and smoothest for playthings; that afterwards wishing to make a long tramp, and finding the pebbles heavy, and the children having grown tired of them, he threw them away.
The old man's face and manner eonvineed his bearers of the truth of his story. They invited him to go with thein to a private room. Having furnished him with plenty of whiskey, for which he had a weakness, they iudueed him, nothing loth, to tell them further of the valley where his children found the yellow roeks. He described as well as he could the location of the place. There were few well knowu land marks then. except rivers and ridges. But he marked ou the table the route, first to the valley at the head of Bear river, then across a ridge to to a small valley still beyond, aud then by way of ridges and hills whielt had no name then, and which he couldl only deseribe, to the valley of their search, lying near the summit of the Sierras. Finally, warmed with good cheer, he proposed that if they would come to his home at Greenwood Valley, he would join them there and pilot them to the very place. They eagerly assented, and the party separated. No Que noticed that the Negro, who served the party with their numerous potations, lingered and listened attentively while the old man described the valley and marked the route.
Greenwood weut home. A few days afterward the party
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HISTORY OF NEVADA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
arrived at his place, equipped for the proposed expedition, just in time to find the old man dying and see him dic. After his burial they questioned his son, a young lad, concerning the facts narrated by his father. He remembered the circumstance of finding the yellow pebbles, though it happened when he was a mere child, and he was sure he could recognize the valley if he saw it, and perhaps guide them to it. So they started and the boy with them. They reached Bear Valley and the smaller valley beyond, now called Two Mile Valley. There they were at fault. The landmarks beyond were either iudistinctly described by the old man, or indistinctly understood or remem- bered by them. The boy's memory failed him. They wan- dered about the hills and valleys until their provisions gave ont, and then returned in despair, not wiser but much sadder men.
Soou after thic Negro waiter left the saloon at Sacramento and disappeared with a companion of his own racc. A month or two later two Negroes appeared at Marysville. It was rumored that they had an immense quantity of gold, that they were literally loaded down with gold dust. They both disap- peared and were never seen in California again.
In 1849, an American gentleman, Mr. E-, was residing at Valparaiso and in business there. His father who was a sea captain, happened to be at Valparaiso with his ship when the news reached there of the discovery of gold in California. Captain E- immediately sailed for San Francisco with pas- sengers, accompanied by his son. With them, as steward, went a Negro, a native of Valparaiso. Arriving at San Francisco, Captain E- disposed of his ship and settled there, his son returned to Chili, and the Negro started for the interior of the State. Late in 1850 (or in 1851), Captain E -- received a letter from his son at Valparaiso, stating that the Negro, their former steward, had returned there with almost fabulous wealth in gold. That he had conversed with the Negro, who told him the whole story of his success: That when he was a waiter in a saloon at Sacramento he overheard an old hunter telling some companions of a valley among the Sicrras abounding in gold; that he noted carefully the old man's description of the route and place; heard the arrangements made for the expedition ; waited until he heard of its return and its failure; and then, with a single companion, started in search; how by better skill or better luck, they found the golden valley, and gathered of its profusion all they could take away, and more than enoughi for all his wants, aud still there was an abundance left. The Negro also gave Mr. E --- a description of the place, somewhat indefinite, but corresponding generally with Greenwood's, and sufficiently accurate to determine its location within an arca of moderate limits.
Several times since 1850 the few who have known this story have thought of starting in search of Greenwood's golden valley. Some trifle has always prevented the execution of this
design. Within the year past the region of Meadow Lake and Summit City, in Nevada couuty, have been found to be marvelously rich in gold. It is certain that somewhere in the immediate vicinity of this newly discoverd wealth, lies the valley where the Negro found. his fortune. Perhaps some Incky fellow will yet discover the playthings of old man Greenwood's children."
A statement of the bullion product of the county it is impos- sible to give with any accuracy, it being a niatter in the early days of pure conjecture. Men worked at different places, took out more or less gold and departed, no one knowing how suc- cessful they had been. It is only in later years that any relia- ble figures can be had of the yield of claims, and even of thesc a great many claims are unable to present cven an approximate amount of their yield. The yield of the quartz mines can be estimated much better, Int still with no certainty. In arriving at our estimate of the probable yield of the county, we have drawn our information from mine owners, old miners, pnb- lished statements and former estimates that bear the appear- ance of being reliable. We endeavored to secure a statement of the bullion shipped from the county by Wells, Fargo & Co., but have only partially succeeded. From some offices no state- ment could be obtained, on account of the condition of the records, while from none could we get a statement extending farther back thau the year 1868. We give it, incomplete as it is, as a matter of general interest :
BULLION SHIPPED BY WELLS, FARGO & CO.
YEAR.
NEVADA CITY. SWEETLAND.
SAN JUAN.
1868.
$ 1,159,993
$ 172,772
1869
653,980
154,718
1870.
1,278,255
73,752
1871.
1,095,950
118,823
1872.
1,190,163
151,641
548,391
1873.
896,027
91,960
1874.
1,146,531
170,420
335,419
1875.
1,123,002
124,750
342,669
1876.
776,681
75,350
481,495
1877.
997,143
49,400
390,892
1878.
1,207,440
52,800
530,125
1879.
1,292,762
29,000
592,920
Total
$12,813,927
$1,265,386
$3,606,037
The following table shows our estimate of the yield of the county by townships since the first pan of dirt was washed from the rivers to the present time, based ou information derived from the sources spoken of above.
BULLION YIELD OF NEVADA COUNTY 1849-1880.
TOWNSHIP.
PLACER.
QUARTZ.
TOTAL.
Bloomfield.
$ 10,000,000S.
$ 10,000,000
Bridgeport.
15,000,000
15,000,000
Eureka.
25,000,000
1,000,000
26,000,000
Grass Valley
7,000,000
45,000,000
52,000,000
Little York.
20,000,000
20,000,000
Meadow Lake
300,000
300,000
Nevada. .
15,000,000
7,000,000
22,000,000
Rongh and Ready
3,000,000
1,000,000
4,000,000
Washington .
10,000,000
500,000
10,500,000
Total
$105,000,000 $54,800,000 8159,800,000
PLACER MINING.
The proper definition of placer mining is the working of shallow deposits, but in California the term has been extended to cover the deep deposits, hydraulic and cement mining included, in fact, all mining except in quartz. The placer inines of the county have been constantly worked since 1549. at first operations being confined to the bars and beds of the running streams, and gradually extended to the dry ravines. flats and hills adjacent to them. The rich river bars and the shallow surface diggings and ravines that required no capital and but little preparatory labor to work them successfully have been practically exhausted for a number of years, but the deep gravel deposits offer a field for the investment of capital. and the exertion of skill and enterprise that will remain open for years to come.
Professor Silliman says: "The original source from whence all the gold of California has been derived is undoubtedly the veins of gold bearing quartz, which occur so abundantly in all the slates and metamorphic rock of the western slopes of the Sierras, within the areas known as the gold regions. But this original or great source of the precious metal is historically secondary to the shallow and deep diggings, or placers, in the former of which gold was first discovered, and which during the carly years of California history, furnished nearly the whole cf the metal sent iuto commerce. That the placers were derivedl from the degredation or breaking up of the anriferons veins and the distribution of the detritus thus formed by the ageney of running water and ice does not admit of a question."
The first mining in California was done with wooden low's as was the enstom in Mexico, and with pans, but before the first season was over the rocker had been introducerl. and when the immense tide of gold seekers set in towards the mines in 1849, the rocker was the ahnost universal means This was improved upon that year and supplanted largely by the long
384,126
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177
HISTORY OF NEVADA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
tom." In 1850 sluice boxes were introduced and laid the foun- dation for the long tunnels and flumes now in use in the hydraulic mines. The next important advance was in the ground sluice, by which the hills were first worked to any extent.
None of these improvements can be said to be the product of one man's invention or experience, but were gradually evolved from the combined experience and requirements of the miners in all sections of the gokl fields. The sluice box is undoubtedly the most essential of any one contrivance for saving gold, and is used in all placer mining operations at the present time, in the shape of long flumes and in the bed of tunnels. The sluice is simply a long board flume, on the bottom of which are fitted blocks of wood, rounded stones, or riffles (a riffle is a cleat of wood across the bottom of the sluice, at right angles with the course of the current), with quicksilver to catch and detain the gold, while the earth and gravel are carried down by the cur- rent of water running through the flume.
The place selected for the ground-sluice is some spot where there is a considerable supply of water, a stecp descent for it, and much poor dirt. The stream is turned through a little ditch which the miners labor to deepen and enlarge ; and when it is deep they prize off the high banks so that the dirt may fall down into the ditch. This is a very cheap and expeditious way of washing, but it is not now applied extensively.
The board-sluice is a long wooden trough, through which a constant stream of water runs, and into which the auriferous dirt is thrown. The water carries away the clay, sand, gravel, and stones, and leaves the gold in the bottom of the sluice, where it is caught by its gravity and by quicksilver. The board-sluice was for a time the great washing machine, and the most important instrument used in the placer mining of California. It washed nearly all the dirt, and caught nearly all the placer gold. It was invented here, although it had previ- ously been used elsewhere; and it has been more extensively em- ployed here than in any other country. It is not less than fifty feet long, nor less than a foot wide, made of boards. The width is usually sixteen or eighteen inches, and never exceeds five feet. The length is ordinarily several hundred, and some- times several thousand feet.
Large sluices are frequently paved with stone, which makes a more durable false bottom than wood and catches fine gold better than ritHle-bars. The stone bottoms have another ad- vantage-that it is not so easy for thieves to come and clean up at night, as is often done in the riffle-bar sluices. But, on the other hand, cleaning up is more difficult and tedious in a rock-sluice, and so is the putting down of the false bottom after cleaning up. The stones used are cobbles, six or eight inches through at the greatest diameter, and usually flattish. A good workman will pave eight hundred square feet of sluice-box
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